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Saturday, 30 June 2012

Asian stocks capped the biggest weekly gain since January as euro-zone leaders agreed to relax conditions for recapitalizing lenders and amid speculation China will do more to shore up growth. The advance pared the regional benchmark index’s first quarterly loss since September.

U.S. stocks surged on Friday to close out a sour quarter on a high note a s investors cheered an agreement by European leaders to stabilize the region’s banks, a pact that helped remove some of the uncertainty that has plagued markets.

U.S. Treasury debt prices fell on Friday as a deal to let euro zone rescue funds be used to stabilize debt markets and bolster banks damped demand for safe-haven U.S. government bonds. Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes traded 22/32 lower in price, with their yields rising to 1.66 percent from 1.55 percent late Thursday.

Copper surged over 4 percent on Friday, its biggest one-day gain since November, as the latest euro zone rescue deal boosted a broad range of commodity and financial markets with investors scrambling to cover short positions.

U.S. stocks surged on Friday to close out a sour quarter on a high note a s investors cheered an agreement by European leaders to stabilize the region’s banks, a pact that helped remove some of the uncertainty that has plagued markets.

The Nikkei slipped 0.4 percent to 8,842.51, leaving it 12.3 percent down so far in the second quarter, which ends later on Friday, wiping out much of the first-quarter’s 19.3 percent surge, the biggest first quarter gain in 24 years.